Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Қасым-Жомарт Тоқаев
Tokayev in 2024
2nd President of Kazakhstan
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 June 2019 Acting: 20 March – 12 June 2019
Prime Minister	Asqar Mamin Alihan Smaiylov Roman Sklyar (acting) Oljas Bektenov
Preceded by	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 January 2022
Preceded by	Nursultan Nazarbayev
State Secretary of Kazakhstan
In office 29 January 2002 – 13 June 2003
President	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Preceded by	Abish Kekilbayev
Succeeded by	Imangali Tasmagambetov
4th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
In office 1 October 1999 – 28 January 2002 Acting: 1 October 1999 – 12 October 1999
President	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Deputy	Aleksandr Pavlov Daniyal Akhmetov
Preceded by	Nurlan Balgimbayev
Succeeded by	Imangali Tasmagambetov
Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
In office 15 March 1999 – 1 October 1999
Prime Minister	Nurlan Balgimbayev
Chairman of the Assembly of People
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 April 2021
Preceded by	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Chairman of Amanat
In office 28 January 2022 – 26 April 2022
Preceded by	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Succeeded by	Erlan Qoşanov
Senate career 6th Chair of the Senate In office 16 October 2013 – 19 March 2019 Deputy Qairat Işçanov Asqar Beisenbaev Sergey Gromov Bektas Beknazarov Preceded by Kairat Mami Succeeded by Dariga Nazarbayeva In office 11 January 2007 – 15 April 2011 Deputy Muhammed Kopeev Aleksandr Sudin Preceded by Nurtai Abykayev Succeeded by Kairat Mami Member of the Senate In office 16 October 2013 – 19 March 2019 Appointed by Nursultan Nazarbayev In office 11 January 2007 – 15 April 2011
Appointed by	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Diplomatic positions Minister of Foreign Affairs In office 29 January 2002 – 11 January 2007 Prime Minister Imangali Tasmagambetov Daniyal Akhmetov Karim Massimov Preceded by Erlan Idrissov Succeeded by Marat Tajin In office 13 October 1994 – 12 October 1999 Prime Minister Akejan Kajegeldin Nurlan Balgimbayev Preceded by Kanat Saudabayev Succeeded by Erlan Idrissov 11th Under-Secretary General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva In office 12 March 2011 – 16 October 2013 Preceded by Sergei Ordzhonikidze Succeeded by Michael Møller
Personal details
Born	Qasym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev[note 1] (1953-05-17) 17 May 1953 (age 71) Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Almaty, Kazakhstan)
Political party	Independent (1991–1999, 2022–present)
Other political affiliations	CPSU (before 1991) Amanat (1999–2022)
Spouse	Nadezhda Tokayeva ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 2020)​
Children	1
Education	Moscow State Institute of International Relations Beijing Language and Culture University
Signature

Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev^[a] (born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who has served as the President of Kazakhstan since March 20, 2019.^[2]

Born in Alma-Ata (now Almaty), Tokayev attended the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. After graduating in 1975, he worked as a diplomat in Singapore and China. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Tokayev became the deputy foreign minister of a newly independent Kazakhstan in 1992, where he was involved on the issues of nuclear disarmament within the former Soviet republics. In 1999, Tokayev became the deputy prime minister, and in October of that year with the endorsement of the Parliament, he was appointed as prime minister by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. From 2002, Tokayev served as foreign minister and state secretary, where he continued to play an active role in the field of nuclear non-proliferation. He was the director-general of the UN Office at Geneva from 2011 to 2013 and served twice as a chairman of the Kazakh Senate from 2007 to 2011 and 2013 to 2019.^[3]

In 2019, Tokayev assumed office as the acting president after Nursultan Nazarbayev's resignation. Being a member of the ruling Amanat party, he won a non-democratic snap election in June of that year with the support of Nazarbayev as the nominee for the party. After being fully sworn to office, Tokayev pledged to continue Nazarbayev's policies. During his presidency, he has enacted several reforms including increasing workers' salaries, reducing corruption, abolishing capital punishment, and decentralising the local government. From 2020, Tokayev had endured the economic downturn and issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and War in Afghanistan and has sought to counter Kazakhstan's rising inflation, domestic terrorism, illegal migration, drug trafficking, nuclear energy development and power shortages caused by cryptocurrency mining, as well as the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. In 2022, Tokayev announced constitutional reforms that would limit his powers and grant more authority to the Parliament.^[4] As a result, he initiated a constitutional referendum which was backed by an overwhelming number of voters and led to the complete stripping of Nazarbayev's post-presidential privileges regarding policymaking.^[5]

Since becoming president, Tokayev's political influence and role in Kazakhstan had steadily grown apart from Nazarbayev as he assumed various other powerful positions which were previously held by Nazarbayev starting with the chairmanship of the Assembly of People in 2021. In January 2022, he imposed a nationwide state of emergency, dismissed the entirety of Asqar Mamin's government, and ordered security forces to use deadly force following a two-week long violent unrest that had begun earlier that month.^[6] Shortly thereafter, Tokayev took the leading role in the Security Council and ruling Amanat party from Nazarbayev and along with his relatives, dismissed several officials who held a close relationship with Nazarbayev.

While managing to maintain the country's stability, ensuring political transition, and enacting new reforms, Tokayev's governance has remained authoritarian with human rights abuses.^[7] The 2022 Suisse Secrets leaks revealed that the Tokayev family had maintained an elaborate network of secretive offshore wealth assets since at least 1998.^[8]

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